Assembly required
by Fangirldown
Summary: AU Arthur is left in charge of putting together a crib for his soon to be adopted daughter but, like always, needs help from Merlin. Slash.


Arthur's stare was intense as he sat in the middle of the mess he'd created, hands clasped together under his chin as he tried to develop a plan of action that he couldn't quite fathom out yet. The crib should have been done by now but due to the fact that Arthur refused to even take the instructions out of the box lead to a problem as the pieces remained strewn across the floor. He and Merlin were preparing for the arrival of their baby girl, the surrogate mother due at any time now, and he couldn't even figure out how to assemble a crib. He used to be a king for crying out loud, this was what servants were for, what Merlin was for...well used to be for.

"Still haven't read the instructions, have you?" Merlin asked from the doorway, breaking Arthur from his thoughts as a look of arrogance overcame his face.

"I already told you I don't need them." Arthur scoffed as he picked up one of two long metal rods and tried to slip the metal screw of a wheel into a hole that was much to big for it, resulting in it falling back to the ground and Arthur dropping the rod in frustration. The loud clang it made caused Merlin to flinch back before sucking in his cheeks as his own frustration set in.

"Read the instructions!" Merlin demanded as he marched into their soon to be baby's bedroom and shook the leaflet from the box before thrusting them into Arthur's hands.

"You know I can't understand any of this! In fact, I don't understand why she even needs a crib! We could have bought her a perfectly good, pre-assembled Bassinet, but noooooo, Merlin wants her to have a pretty little mahogany crib covered in butterflies and...other girly things." Arthur mocked as he stared up at his husband who was beginning to go red in the face.

"I'm sorry, wasn't it you that squealed like a girl and ran towards it saying how perfect it was when we were in the store and refused to look at anything else while insisting upon that one?" Merlin shot back as he crossed his arms and nodded to the mess that should have been a crib 2 hours ago. "_And _I only picked mahogany because you like it.

"I never said I _liked mahogany_." Arthur scoffed as he crossed his arms defensively._  
_

"Oh yeah? Then why is all our furniture mahogany?" Merlin asked raising an eyebrow.

"I'm not going to argue with you over wood or a stupid crib with instructions that read like sorcery." Arthur retorted before an idea struck him and he looked up at Merlin with a look of realization.

"Nope, don't even ask." Merlin said shaking his head knowing exactly what Arthur was going to say.

"Come on. I've been in here for almost 4 hours now and I've literally done _nothing_." Arthur whined as he stood and walked up to Merlin, grabbing both of his hands, and giving him a pleading puppy dog look. Merlin did his best to avoid the gaze but Arthur was persistent, following Merlin's moves with his own until he was practically mirroring his movements.

"Fine, _fine._" Merlin gave in with a roll of his eyes. No matter how strong his resistance was, Arthur's persistence was stronger. He raised his hand at the cluster on the floor and muttered a few words, his eyes flashing gold when he was done, and the pieces slowly drifted into the air and began to piece themselves together.

"Very impressive." Arthur said still mesmerized by his husbands power despite the fact he seen it on almost a daily basis.

"Now you, owe me." Merlin said with a cheeky smile as he turned to look at Arthur who smiled back.

"Anything for you." Arthur replied huskily as he raised his hand to caress Merlin's cheek and puckered up his lips as he began to lean towards him only for Merlin to take a step backwards. "Ha, nice try, but that's not what I want." he stepped out of the room and Arthur's eyes grew wide as he drew his hands down his face when Merlin pushed yet another box into the room.

"What the hell is this now?!" Arthur asked exasperated while Merlin only smiled at him over the much bigger box.

"This is the dresser, easier than the crib, so you shouldn't have too much trouble." Merlin said with a smile before he ducked out once more and pushed yet another box through the door, his breathing getting a little heavier from pushing the weight of both boxes by himself. "And this one is the change table."

"Wha-hey! That's two favours!" Arthur shouted as Merlin gave him that contagious, infamous smile of his. "Oh, you think this is funny don't you?" Arthur replied with a small grin as he looked at Merlin.

"What're you doing?" Merlin questioned, his smile growing wider, more playful, as Arthur slowly began to step towards him.

"Nothing...yet." Arthur said before he lunged at Merlin who quickly dodged Arthur's arms and ran from the room out into the hallway with him hot on his heels, both men laughing like giddy little children until Arthur managed to catch Merlin in the living room and pin him onto the couch. "Now, what I'm going to do is kiss you all over relentlessly until you help me put our daughters room together." Arthur said out of breath as he smiled down at Merlin.

"I guess I can help seeing as you'd just sit there looking clueless like you always do." Merlin replied as Arthur began to lean down slowly towards his collarbone, his biggest weakness.

"I _do not_ look clueless!" Arthur cried as he shot back up to a hovering position.

"You do, and it's the cutest thing I've ever seen." Merlin said as he looked lovingly at Arthur before grabbing him by the neck and pulling him down so their lips touched and lingered on one another before pulling away. "Besides if I left it all up to you it'd never get done."


End file.
